Sunday, December 4, 2016

... and some nice stretches in between, with a variety of arresting views. I keep rather voluminous notes, thinking they might be of interest. But no, mother nature is a whole lot more interesting than my yakety-yak. So let's get to mother nature's show, some nice sunsets in betwixt the rain.

When it rains it pours - makes for interesting driving. The storm drain on the street outside my window:

Clogged! It's now a small lake! It made for some interesting driving:

Do you remember jumping into puddles when you were a kid?

This is the adult automotive equivalent. Don't be standing on that corner!

LINKS

Hope all these work for you.

Polar stratospheric cloud

Something i stumbled upon, looks a few i have seen:

Polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs, also known as nacreous clouds, are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 meters

"They are suspected of playing a primary role in the collapse of several pre-industrial civilizations, including the Anasazi of the North American Southwest, the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, the Mayan of Mesoamerica, the Tiwanaku of Bolivia, and the Yuan Dynasty of China."

"When megadroughts occur, lakes dry up and trees and other plants grow in the dry lake beds. When the drought ends the lakes refill, when this happens the trees are submerged and die. In some locations these trees have remained preserved and can be studied giving accurate radio-carbon dates, and the tree rings of the same long dead trees can be studied. Such trees have been found in Mono and Tenaya lakes in California, Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana; and various other lakes."

"During a 200-year mega drought in the Sierra Nevada that lasted from the 9th and 12th centuries, trees would grow on newly exposed shoreline at Fallen Leaf Lake, then as the lake grew once again, the trees were preserved under cold water."

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Persistent drought in North America:

a climate modeling and paleoclimate perspective

Richard Seager

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

A millennium of North American droughts and pluvials

A farm during the Dust Bowl. This one is in South Dakota during May 1936.

For year after year across vast areas of North America rainfall was low. Summers were parched and the heat excessive. Plants withered and sand dunes moved freely across a formerly green landscape. Human settlements had to be abandoned and populations migrated, forcing social change. By some measures the drought lasted more than a decade.

No, this is not a description of the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s but of the truly severe drought of the late thirteenth century, which coincided with the end of the Anasazi civilization. It could just as easily describe the severe drought of the late sixteenth century. Or it could describe the droughts of the mid-Holocene which so taxed the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains."

'A tree stump in Mono Lake in California that grew during an ancient drought and was submerged when wet years returned. Scott Stine used carbon dating of stumps to recreate the drought history of the area'

Even with drought, a California river will begin flowing year-round for the first time in 60 years

A decade ago, environmentalists and the federal government agreed to revive a 150-mile stretch of California's second-longest river, an ambitious effort aimed at allowing salmon again to swim up to the Sierra Nevada foothills to spawn.

A major milestone is expected by the end of the month, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the stretch of the San Joaquin River will be flowing year-round for the first time in more than 60 years.

"We're currently at over 17 inches of liquid for October and November combined—that's 200 percent above normal—and haven't had that high of a reading since 1985-86.

"It has really been a pretty good start to the water year," Kurth, who work's in the NOAA's Sacramento office, said. "We had a really wet October. We had a dry start to November, but last week things changed."

About Me

A traditional darkroom photographer who manages to survive reasonably well in a digital world, the "silverwizard" lives just north of San Francisco,California. He pays most of the rent by pushing pixels, and spends whatever time he can at the beach or desert. He still gets into the darkroom from time to time - it's the best fun you can have with your clothes on!
For more on my techniques:
http://www.bobbennettphoto.net/DarkRm2/index.html